Washington, DC [US], April 13 (ANI): Chinese officials privately admitted their role in a series of cyberattacks targeting U.S. infrastructure during a previously undisclosed meeting last December, according to sources familiar with the discussions, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The confidential summit, which took place in Geneva, added new complexity to the mounting tensions between the U.S. and China. Representatives from the outgoing Biden administration attended the meeting, where the Chinese delegation suggested that the cyberattacks on U.S. ports, water systems, airports, and other critical infrastructure were a response to Washington’s increasing support for Taiwan.
This marked a clear shift from China’s usual approach of denial, where it typically attributes such incidents to criminal groups or dismisses them as overblown.
Security researchers had already identified the cyber campaign, named Volt Typhoon, which sparked significant concern among U.S. officials last year. U.S. intelligence linked the effort to China’s military, noting that the operation aimed to embed itself within American systems to conduct swift and destructive strikes if a conflict ever broke out.
While Chinese officials’ comments remained vague, U.S. representatives saw them as a veiled admission of responsibility and a warning related to U.S.-Taiwan relations, according to a former official who spoke with The Wall Street Journal.
Since the December meeting, U.S.-China relations have continued to deteriorate, aggravated by a growing trade war. In response, senior members of the Trump administration have promised to escalate cyber operations targeting Chinese infrastructure, the report added.
At the same time, lawmakers and officials revealed that Beijing has continued to exploit U.S. telecommunications systems through another digital campaign, known as Salt Typhoon, attributed to a separate Chinese hacking group.
The situation has become even more alarming due to internal changes within the U.S. government. The administration recently carried out significant job cuts, affecting hundreds of cybersecurity positions. The dismissal of both the NSA director and deputy director last week has triggered concerns among intelligence experts and lawmakers, who fear that these moves will weaken the nation’s defenses against cyber threats.
U.S. officials now consider China’s repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure one of the most pressing national security threats facing the country.
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